How I Nearly Got Killed By An Elephant

While staying in the Children's Home in Meru we met a young man named Philip. Philip was being supported by IPI to study law in Nairobi and as it turned out after some conversation he was part of the Maasai tribe. Felix and I asked if there was any chance he could show us his village and family which is located in the middle of the bush, in between Nanyuki and Isiolo. He happily accepted and after some minor problems with the dates we managed to head out and go to Isiolo.

"Ok boys, I have friends with a shop near-by. Let's drop off our luggage there and while waiting for my uncle and cousins to pick us up we can buy some food and water because there won't be any drinking water in the village." Philip tells us as we get out of the van that brought us here from Meru. As our feet step on the dusty brown floor we see the winds carry sand through the wide earthen streets, we head towards the little shop that is selling some baked goods and the usual cheap mini sweets packaged in little bits of plastic to drop off our heavy luggage. We then went to a bigger store to buy some of the necessities that we needed to survive out in the middle of nowhere and headed back to where we left our bags to rest a little. When arriving at the little shop Philip's uncle and cousins had already arrived on their motorbikes, however one of the motorbikes seemed to be partly broken and they were having some problems fixing it.

"Not again man, this is just becoming the norm now isn't it." I said to Felix as we sat down on the concrete steps leading up to the little shop. None the less they managed to fix the bike after about half an hour and we hopped onto the motorbikes. One motorbike was loaded with the driver and our bags and the water supplies for the days we would spend in the maasai village. Another one was for the uncle of Philip who drove, Philip himself and Felix. I hopped onto the one with Philip's cousin and the journey began in the bumpy streets of Isiolo. We headed out to get into the bush and at the beginning of the trip there were still some 'proper' roads and we saw the occasional truck every now and then. As time passed the roads started getting narrower and instead of trucks there were the occasional carts pulled by donkeys that transported firewood into the cities and larger villages near by. Then we started driving on little paths, which looked as if they were more for walking than driving anything on them. At this point the only thing we could see from time to time were herdsmen that passed with their livestock and acacia trees that covered a lot of the grounds of the bush.

After crossing over a couple of rivers and nearly losing our luggage to the water my driver, Lawrence, stops the motorbike and turns off the engine. We had just entered a greener part of the wilderness and I could see some tall trees surrounded by leafy undergrowth, a nice change to the brown/red and dusty ground that we had just travelled through.

"Stay calm, don't make any loud noise now - look in front behind that tree just slightly to the left." Lawrence whispers in my ear. I look towards the tree that he pointed out and all of a sudden I see a big grey body move out of the cover behind the tree. Elephants! I spot another one and another one and end up witnessing a big herd of about 30 elephants passing just 20m in front of us. In the next second the two other motorbikes pulled up behind us and stopped, however they did not turn off their engines like Lawrence did. Right in this moment a big mother elephant passes in front of us and in front of her a little baby elephant plods behind the herd. Inevitably the noise of the two motorbikes disturbed the mother and she starts turning towards us and flapping her ears in anger. The other two motorbikes drive off at this point and turn off their engines after finding a nice spot behind some shrubs and bushes where they could safely wait for us.

"Don't worry, just stay calm - I am a safari guide and have experience with these situations. Let's not speak a word and simply wait." He whispers in my ear, and as we sit there in silence the mother relaxes and moves back into the herd. However she does not start walking with the herd quite yet, she waits, probably to ensure the safety of the young elephant. My heart is beating hard and loud at this point and I just about manage to stay relaxed and calm in this stressful situation.

"Ok, I think it should be safe now." Lawrence informs me with quite a firm and reassuring voice. He puts his foot down on a lever and tries to kickstart the engine. However all you hear is the loud noise of the engine as it nearly starts but it doesn't quite work. The second this loud noise penetrates through the tense silence the elephant mother turns towards us, this time all the way and she starts charging. With her two big tusks lowered towards the ground I feel her heavy body stampeding towards us. The ground is shaking and Lawrence hastily tries to start the engine again. I hear the engine roaring up and dying again. She is getting closer, only 7m away at this point. In a few seconds we would get crushed by this giant beautiful animal. My mind is empty - I have no last thoughts but instead experience the moment. I feel the strong energy radiating from this mother elephant and right as I turn around towards the other motorbikes to glance at Felix one last time Lawrence desperately attempts starting the engine one last time, I hear the engine roar up and and this time it does not die. Lawrence steps on the gas and we take off, as fast as possible we race through bushes and brushes. Branches are hitting me in the face as we follow the path of the empty river bed to our left. We drive for about 5 minutes until we feel a little safer. However we don't know if the elephant is still running after us so we find a steep slope. Elephants can't go down or up steep slopes so we would have a natural form of protection just in case. We place the motorbike in between us and start sliding down the sandy slope. When reaching the ground we hop back onto the motorbike and the trip continues. But only after a few minutes the front wheel starts swaying from left to right and a few seconds later the front wheel gets stuck in the sand and I fly off my seat. My face hits the ground and it takes me at least half a moment to organize my thoughts and realize what is happening. I head back to the motorbike, Lawrence and I pull the bike out of the sand and as we do so we start feeling a light tremble of the ground. We look ahead and witness four big elephants with a baby elephant in their centre crossing the empty river bed just 35m in front us.

Until we reach harder ground I run next to Lawrence on the motorbike. There we wait until we hear the engines of the others getting closer. We arrive in the village not long after and I was still in shock. As more Maasai warriors heard the story and pat me on the back I start feeling more comfortable and even proud for getting out of a situation that could have easily been a fatal one.